The Cult of Rich-Kid Sports

On Tuesday, a federal judge held that Harvard’s admissions policy does not violate the Civil Rights Act. In the ruling, which could be overturned on appeal, the judge rejected claims that the university broke the law by creating a higher standard for Asian American applicants.

But a new paper by several economists, including one directly involved in the trial, provides stark evidence that Harvard does give preferential treatment to affluent white applicants through legacy preferences and sports recruitment.

The researchers found that between 2009 and 2014, more than 40 percent of accepted white students were ALDC—athletes, legacies, “dean’s list” (meaning related to donors), or the children of faculty. Without such preferences, they said, three-quarters of those white students would have been rejected.

The study’s lead author, the Duke